Police: Gunman holds hostage in Discovery building

UPDATE III: The hostage-taker at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., who was shot by police during the four-standoff is dead, reports ABC News.

The gunman, identified as James Lee, was killed by police following four hours of negotiations but the hostages are all safe, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.

Manger said the suspect had “metalic canisters” strapped to his chest and back. When Lee was struck by police bullets, one of the canisters “popped.” Police have not confirmed if the canisters were a bomb, but Manger said the “device may have gone off” when he was shot.

UPDATE II: The hostage-taker at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., has been shot, and his three hostages are believed to be safe, MSNBC has reported.

Witnesses in the area say the sound of at least one shot could be heard. Police would not say how badly James Jay Lee — believed to be the hostage-taker — was injured, or whether he is alive.

UPDATE: Web site linked to gunman calls for an end to ‘anchor baby filth,’ births of ‘parasitic human infants’

The gunman holding at least one hostage at the Discovery TV headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., reportedly runs a Web site that calls for an end to human reproduction and criticizes the Discovery channel for running TV shows about the birthing process and reproduction, news sources report.

Authorities say a “small number” of people may be held hostage, but the building — where 1,900 people work — has been evacuated.

Authorities have identified the man as James Jay Lee, a 43-year-old resident of Silver Spring. NBC in Washington has linked Lee to an event two years ago in which he threw thousands of dollars in the air during a protest outside the Discovery building. He was subsequently ordered to stay at least 500 feet away from the building.

Multiple news sources have linked Lee to a Web site, Save The Planet Protest, which sets out a list of demands on Discovery and calls in harsh terms for an end to human reproduction, specifically singling out the children of undocumented migrants, whom he describes as “anchor baby filth.”

“Humans are the most destructive, filthy, pollutive creatures around and are wrecking what’s left of the planet with their false morals and breeding culture,” the Web site states in part.

The site was unavailable when Raw Story tried to access it, but a Google cache of the site uncovers a Web site devoted to a philosophy that combines hatred of the human race with environmentalism and anti-immigrant sentiment:

All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed.

Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn’t, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??

Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that.

Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don’t build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth!

Saving the Planet means saving what’s left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the human race from breeding any more disgusting human babies! You’re the media, you can reach enough people. It’s your resposibility [sic] because you reach so many minds!!!

A MySpace page identified as belonging to Lee describes him as being a 43-year-old resident of Silver Spring, an atheist, and a fan of Captain James T. Kirk and Daniel Quinn, an environmentalist who has focused his work on the problems caused by overpopulation.

The Discovery Channel is listed in his favorite TV column.

The following video, showing Lee throwing money into the air during a protest outside the Discovery building in 2008, was posted to YouTube by user Pinachina, and flagged by Business Insider’s Kamelia Angelova.

INITIAL AP STORY FOLLOWS BELOW

Police: At least 1 person being held hostage by gunman in Discovery TV building in Md.

Police in a Washington, D.C., suburb say a gunman has taken at least one person hostage at the headquarters of Discovery Communications.

Montgomery County fire department spokesman Capt. Oscar Garcia says three bomb technicians responded to the scene in Silver Spring, Md., and several more are on their way.

Garcia says the initial report was of a suspicious package that was possibly explosive. He says nobody has been injured. Some employees have left the building.

Montgomery County Police Cpl. Dan Friz tells WJLA-TV that a gunman is in the building.

A person inside the building tells The Associated Press the man had something strapped to his chest and has hostages. The person asked not to be identified, saying people inside have been told not to speak to the media.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) Ã¢â‚¬â€ Police say a gunman has entered the Discovery Communications headquarters in suburban Silver Spring, Maryland and has taken at least one person hostage.

Montgomery County Police Cpl. Dan Friz tells WJLA-TV that a gunman is in the building.

A person inside the building tells The Associated Press the man had something strapped to his chest and has hostages. The person asked not to be identified, saying people inside have been told not to speak to the media.

Police did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Discovery Communications LLC operates cable and satellite networks in the U.S. including The Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet.